Do people seriously have nothing better to do than hate on Argentina? There’s a lot of that going on around here from people who clearly don’t understand the rules or aren’t even watching the matches, just cherry-picked anti-Messi reels.
Claiming the entire tournament has already been rigged for Argentina is ridiculous. It’s just dumb, sore-loser mentality.
100% agreed. But just to be fair, it's not only against Argentina, it was against the US and England as well, for the same reasons you mentioned above. It's sad but that's the world we live in now. I won't go further on that...
Yes, Argentina has been playing like shit, but their opponents keep making costly mistakes.
I rather focus on the above, which I don't agree completely, only partially.
The team was put together to cater to Messi, that's clear. The mid-field the last couple of games was composed of FOUR defensive mid-fielders, LOL! Paredes, MacAllister, Fernadez and De Paul are all better at defending than attacking. Yes, I know they all can play a little more forward, like Enzo sometimes does for Chelsea and MacAllister for Liverpool, however their DNA is defending.
So that leaves Messi without any defensive responsibilities but also without any real creative help from the mid-field. He could have had more help from either Alvarez or L. Martinez but, imo, they are not having a good Copa. Yes, they scored but the their help hasn't been great. I like the team a little better with Almada (the first three games, but I could be wrong). Tough choice which of the four to push out. Scalonni left Paredes out but he's been great the last couple of games. Purely based on performance, I think I'll take Fernandez out, and I'm a fan of his...
I think that's the source of the issues Argentina has been facing, especially when ahead on the score. They come back to their defensive posture.
It happened several times now on 2026 and also in 2022 against The Netherlands and in the final against France, they scored and sat back. So, when needed, whether they are behind of tied in need of a goal, they press a little harder.
Having said that, there is no team that can play as hard as Argentina. When they were down 2x0 to Egypt, they were tackling all over the place. It was an absolute joy to see.
The game against England will be EPIC! And I don't mean the best technically played game ever, as I know it won't be. I mean fought tooth and nail, which is what I love of Argentina and to some extent, England...
